Cupid and Psyche: Ego Development and Individuation Through the Struggle Against Uroboros
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Daria Olegovna Osipova Cupid and Psyche: Ego Development and Individuation through the Struggle against Uroboros. Bachelor’s project in Comparative Literature May 2019 Bachelor’s project Bachelor’s NTNU Faculty of Humanities Faculty Department of Language and Literature Norwegian University of Science and Technology of Science University Norwegian Daria Olegovna Osipova Cupid and Psyche: Ego Development and Individuation through the Struggle against Uroboros. Bachelor’s project in Comparative Literature May 2019 Norwegian University of Science and Technology Faculty of Humanities Department of Language and Literature Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................2 Theory ....................................................................................................................................3 Psyche ................................................................................................................................3 Archetypes ..........................................................................................................................3 The Ego ...........................................................................................................................3 The Shadow ....................................................................................................................4 The history of consciousness ...............................................................................................4 Uroboros .........................................................................................................................4 The Great Mother ............................................................................................................5 The Hero’s Journey .........................................................................................................5 Individuation .......................................................................................................................6 Reading of the tale ..................................................................................................................7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 15 List of Cited Works .............................................................................................................. 17 1 Introduction In this thesis I will interpret the tale of Cupid and Psyche as it appears in The Golden Ass by Apuleius. I will base my work on Erich Neumann’s The Origins and History of Consciousness, and Amor and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine subtitled A Commentary on the tale by Apuleius. I will first present relevant terms from the field of Jungian depth psychology, also called analytical psychology. Then I will do a systematic analysis of the tale, primarily focusing on the development of Psyche - a character in the story. I will look at the interactions between Psyche and uroboros – which is the first stage of the ego development, and Psyche and the Great Mother – an archetype, and the second stage of ego development. I will also look at her process of individuation, that is, the process of integrating with the repressed, or, unrecognized traits in the psyche. The Hero’s Journey of Psyche, and by what means she successfully completes the tasks posed to her by Aphrodite, the Terrible Mother of the tale, will be covered. I will also look at the interactions between Eros and the Great Mother, and how the power of love is ultimately what drives both Eros’ and Psyche’s egos towards differentiation from the Great Mother. Differentiation is the process of the ego’s recognition of itself as an independent, individual entity. Consequently, it is also the power of love which drives the process of both Psyche’s and Eros’ individuation towards its end, resulting in a conscious love relationship between two equal individuals. Finally, I will conclude with a summary of the most central points of the interpretation. 2 Theory For this reading, I will use Erich Neumann’s Amor and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine. subtitled A commentary on the Tale by Apuleius extensively. In his commentary, Neumann reads the tale and stresses mythical motifs, therefore using the Greek names of the Roman figures in the story; Aphrodite instead of Venus, Eros instead of Cupid, Hera instead of Juno etc. These are also the names I will be using in this paper. Another work which will be used extensively, is Neumann’s The Origins and History of Consciousness, where the developmental stages of the ego are presented. Before presenting the stages of ego development, I will present other relevant terminology used in this thesis will be presented. Psyche In analytical psychology, a psyche is defined as one’s total personality. A psyche consists of two realms: the conscious and the unconscious. At the center of consciousness is the ego, while the unconscious realm is divided into two; the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious (Academy of Ideas, 2016). The first consists of repressed elements of an individual’s life, the second of instincts and archetypes. Archetypes Archetypes can be understood as psychic structures that govern all psychic activity (Academy of Ideas, 2016). An archetype consists of two parts: archetypal images and the archetype-as- such (Neumann, 1963, p.4-6). Archetypal images are, for example, images and symbols through which an archetype can be understood figuratively; for instance, the Great Mother archetype as the sea, the earth, or the cornucopia of the fruitful womb (Neumann, 1970, p. 40). An archetype-as-such can be described as the pattern underlying the occurrence of archetypal imagery; whether it occurs in the form of dreams, in psychoanalysis, mythology, works of art, music or literature. The Ego The ego is regarded as the center of consciousness (Neumann, 1970, p.262). As the development of consciousness starts with the ego being a mere ego germ, the further development of consciousness depends on its strengthening and its differentiation from the archetypes that wield power over it. In analytical psychology, roughly speaking, the masculine traits are connected to the realm of consciousness, and therefore to the ego (Neumann, 1970, p.42, 63). Through the ego’s acquisition of masculine traits, or recognition of them within its own psyche, it becomes stronger. Some of the symbols of the masculine 3 and the consciousness are the light, the eye, the sun, and the ram (Neumann, 1970, p.42) (Neumann, 1971, p.98-99). The Shadow The Shadow is an archetype existing in the realm of the personal unconscious. It consists of repressed personality traits. These are often negative, but not always – sometimes people reject certain personality traits, not because they are harmful, but because they don’t fit with the dominant social attitudes of the day. However, integrating the Shadow-elements within one’s psyche, can bring about a renewed sense of vitality, and in the process, one may discover the positive repressed traits as well (Academy of Ideas, 2016). In this thesis, the Shadow-elements we are about to encounter, are Psyche’s sisters. They are the ones who interrupt the paradisaical existence of Eros and Psyche in the uroboric palace, but their interference is also what pushes Psyche towards individuation and psychic development, so that she and Eros can have a productive love relation as two conscious individuals. The history of consciousness In The Origins and History of Consciousness, Neumann presents the stages of ego development from an unconscious, prehistoric age, to the state of full consciousness. In different stages, the ego will be up against different archetypes, and therefore the stages can be called archetypal. Though Neumann’s development of the ego in the book is presented in a linear fashion, the development does not need to happen linearly in real life, and a single individual may jump between different archetypal stages several times during their life (Neumann, 1970, p.264). These jumps may be triggered by a disturbance in a person’s life, examples being the death of a loved one, or a partner’s unfaithfulness. The seeming orderliness of the past and/or future is shattered, and the person is thrown into chaos, revisiting uroboros (Bite-sized Philosophy, 2017). All archetypes, and therefore all archetypal stages, exist in the collective unconscious, and are always latent in all individuals. Several of the stages have theory and terminology relevant to the reading of the tale of Eros and Psyche, which will be presented below. Uroboros Uroboros is the first archetypal stage of the ego development – the development of consciousness. The uroboros is the realm of the unconscious, where the ego is not yet developed (Neumann, 1970, p.5). It is a germ swimming in the dark uroboric sea of enmeshment: life and death, night and day, male and female, good and evil, all of which are 4 not differentiated from each other - all is one (Neumann, 1970, p.11). All is anonymity, and lust in the dark. The symbol of the uroboros is a snake eating its own tail (Neumann, 1970, p.10). The Great Mother The Great Mother is the second stage of the archetypal development. This archetype consists of two aspects: The Good Mother and the Terrible Mother. There are archetypal images and symbols connected to both aspects. In her good aspect, the